April 13, 2011

If Canada’s polygamy law is upheld, the court must clearly define the practise and spell out what polygamists must do to comply with the law, the lawyer for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said Wednesday.
Robert Wickett noted that when special prosecutor Richard Peck recommended a constitutional reference case to determine whether the law is valid, he did so because he believed that the fundamentalist Mormons in Bountiful needed fair ... Read More …

The TSX clawed out a 32-point gain today, closing at 13,834 on a day when most commodities got a lift. Spot gold rose $2.70 to $1,456 US an ounce, silver rose half a buck to $40.60 and West Texas crude oil was up 75 cents to $107 US a barrel. Vancouver-based gainers included the gravity-defying Lululemon — the darling of both yoga practitioners and day traders — which rose 3% to $88.62, First Majestic Silver, ... Read More …

From Hansard, Jan 26, 2002.
Then education minster Christy Clark delivers a “proud” defence of the teachers contract-stripping legislation that was today ruled invalid and unconstitutional by a B.C. Supreme Court judge.
Hon. C. Clark: I’m delighted to be able to stand today in this House and speak in favour of the Public Education Flexibility and Choice Act.
This bill, as my colleagues have said, is about putting students first on the ... Read More …

In the social media race pitting politicians against the playoffs, the politicians are leading across Canada, although in Vancouver, diehard Canucks fans are giving them a run for their money.
Even tech guru and popular social media commentator Guy Kawasaki has given his stamp of approval to the decision to put hockey ahead of politics on TV.
“Is it true that the French language debate in Canada was delayed a day because of the Montreal-Boston ... Read More …

I often worry that home-buyers in British Columbia, especially the Lower Mainland, are more concerned about the future value of what they are buying rather than whether it’s the right home for them at the time. The evidence is anecdotal and based on people asking me, when they are considering buying, what I think of a particular area and whether that area will appreciate. But to me a house is a home, a place you ... Read More …

A provincial law that ended the right of teachers to bargain class size and class composition in 2002 is unconstitutional, B.C. Supreme Court says in a ruling that is a major victory for the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and is likely to have far-reaching implications.
The court has given the Christy Clark government 12 months to make changes. It’s not yet clear what impact this will have on contract negotiations now underway between the BCTF and the B.C. ... Read More …

Best Buy is selling Apple’s iPhone 4 for $99 with a three-year contract with Virgin Mobile — down from its regular $159 — but only on Canucks playoff game days.
Best Buy isn’t officially announcing this deal and posting the coupon on its web site until this Friday but if you print his blog post with the bar code below and take it to a Best Buy store today — the day the Canucks meet ... Read More …

BY Mia Stainsby
Vancouver Sun
An Overview
Ask Vancouver’s memory keeper, John Atkin, anything about Vancouver history, then hit “send.”
Asked about the history of Vancouver restaurants, he flashes back to the pioneering days.
Early Vancouver, he says, was like a collection of saloons and hotels. The hotels had dining rooms and photos show saloons with “chops” and other dishes inscribed on their windows. Early directories, he says, show advertisements for food in saloons.... Read More …

A six-year-old autistic boy, barred from his Langley elementary school because of concerns about his aggression, is being transferred to another school, the district has confirmed.
Communications manager Craig Spence said the boy is expected to be back in class by the end of the week but he wouldn’t provide the name of his new school.
Three teachers at Topham elementary in Langley refused to work with the boy, saying his violent and threatening behaviour ... Read More …

In the interests of full disclosure, I am a die-hard Vancouver Canucks fan and a season ticket holder for many years. I’m no Johnny-come-lately hockey fan. I grew up in Saskatchewan and some of my earliest memories are of me sitting on the knee of the greatest-ever goalie, Johnny Bower, during summers at our cabin in Waskesiu, counting his scars and missing teeth! Bower (Toronto Maple Leafs) was my now-90-year-old dad’s childhood buddy in Prince ... Read More …

(Dish from Bao Bei.)
Calling it “unquestionably the buzziest opening in recent memory,” Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards judges named Bao Bei the Best New Restaurant for 2011.
“Hipsters and olders alike flock to Bao Bei for pillowy dumplings, Asian-style beef tartar and other inventive plates like shao bing – crunchy sesame flatbread, stuffed with braised pork and crisp Asian pear.”
L’Abbatoir placed second and Lupo came in third under the ‘best new’ category.
Other award-winners ... Read More …

On the one year anniversary of the day 100 sled dogs, owned by Outdoor Adventures, were killed in Whistler groups in B.C. are planning to hold rallies Saturday to lobby the federal government to update its 100 years old animal protection legislation.
In Nanaimo a rally is planned at 1:30 p.m. April 23 at Beban Park (at the Dorman Road entrance) with guest speaker Gem Zolciak, from Island Dogz Rescue, who will be talking about her ... Read More …

Nancy Sathre-Vogel, her husband and two young sons have been cycling around the world. Here, she recounts some of her favourite memories of the trip:
There’s a light at the end of the tunnel – and it’s starting to get blindingly bright! In many ways it seems like it was just yesterday that we started pounding our pedals way up in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska as far north as the road goes in the Americas. Is it ... Read More …

I received the following email from the Learning Disabilities Association of B.C. in response to the story I wrote recently after interviewing Education Minister George Abbott:
The Learning Disabilities Association of BC (LDABC) is delighted to learn of The Minister of Education’s intentions to take the needs of children with learning disabilities, a large segment of the school population, most seriously, as reported in the Vancouver Sun April 11, 2011.
Families can now ... Read More …

Connie Denesiuk, president of the B.C. School Trustees’ Association (BCSTA), has announced she will not seek re-election to the Okanagan Skaha board of education in November, thus ending a long career as a school trustee.
Denesiuk will soon complete her term as BCSTA president and her replacement will be elected at the association’s annual general meeting this weekend. So far, only one candidate has been nominated – vice-president Michael McEvoy.
The association will ... Read More …

Premier Christy Clark is aiming to win a seat in the legislature in a May 11 byelection in Vancouver-Point Grey.
The timing, just nine days after the conclusion of the current federal campaign, was dictated by a concern that Clark have a shot at appearing in the legislature in the coming session.
Even if she wins on May 11, she would not be able to take her seat immediately.
B.C. Election law allows for a ... Read More …

(Owner Preet Marwaha, left.)
In retrospect, one could say colitis saved his life. It certainly sent him into a tailspin from which he made a dramatic landing, into a whole new lifestyle.
It was 20 years ago, and he was not yet 20 himself, when Preet Marwaha, faced having his intestines taken out.
“There’s no way it was going to happen,” he’d said and left the hospital. He went on a determined diet of ... Read More …

Commodities were back on the upswing in early trading, lifting the TSX to an 80-point gain after two sessions of triple-digit losses. Lululemon was among the gainers, up 2.3 per cent to $87.87, within sniffing distance of its all-time high of $91. Spot gold was up $5 to $1,460 US an ounce, while prices for crude oil also rose. South of the line, the Dow Jones was up 36 points to 12,300 and the Nasdaq ... Read More …

What quality of decision-making do you expect to get when the “judges” in a dispute are beholden to the parties on both sides?
Because that’s exactly what happens when many disputes between private interests — say site-specific zoning decisions — go to public hearings conducted by elected civic politicians. The jobs of those sitting in judgment certainly depend on the goodwill of voters, including the often-angry ones appearing before them, and their campaigns ... Read More …